Blue and Red
by Raven Shadowe
Summary: Jet and Zuko plot to overthrow the Dai Li. Not a slash, but if you like that pairing you can pretend. This story is now complete.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer, this story is mine, but the characters are not, nor is the world it takes place in. I don't own anything.

Note: This is not a slash story. Sorry if you like that pairing, but you can either pretend or just not read it. They will however interact a lot. I got the idea for this story in part from the extras edition of AtLA which reveals that The Blue Spirit was almost named The Red Spirit. Then I thought about Jet and Zuko in Ba Sing Se, and couldn't resist the urge to write this. But it did take me a while.

* * *

Jet glared at the two men he had traveled with. The fact that they were able to live peaceably undetected in Ba Sing Se drove him mad. "Those two are fire benders!" he shouted.

Two earth kingdom soldiers shifted uneasily in their seats, looking at the youth's hook swords. "Now take it easy kid, there's no reason to get all worked up about these things. I'm sure you're mistaken." said one.

"Oh no, they're fire benders alright."

Zuko stepped out of the shadows. His broadswords were ready at his side, but they were still sheathed. "If my uncle is any kind of bender, he's a tea bender." he said.

Iroh stepped forward. "No, I'm a fire bender alright."

Everyone in the teahouse gasped, and some people dropped their tea cups. Jet smiled triumphantly.

"Uncle, what are you doing?" asked Zuko.

Iroh stepped closer to his nephew. "Go with the flow." he said, then returned his attention to Jet. "We told you we were refugees. That was true. You only assumed we were from the earth kingdom. The fact is, we were born and raised in the fire nation colonies, but the war hurt us every bit as much as it did the people of the earth kingdom. You see my nephew's scar? He didn't get that from an earth bender. An authority in our own village did that to him. That was when I decided it was time he and I got out of there as quickly as possible." He looked specifically at Jet. "As I understand it, you know firsthand what it is to suffer at the hands of the fire nation. Surely you don't think they treat their own people any better than they do yours? I was alright there, I had good food, and a job. My poor nephew here practically lived in a gutter. We had to get out, and where to refugees from the war with the fire nation go exactly? They all seem to congregate in Ba Sing Se, and I had always wanted to see this city anyway. I'm not proud to be a fire bender, it's not an element I would have chosen. It's too destructive, and as long as people like you barge in on us it will continue to make things difficult for me to live peacefully here. But I'm not going to lie about it openly when it's confronted. That would be dishonest."

Something in his words seemed to gradually disarm Jet, his voice ranging over topics he knew the boy would find sensitive.

The soldiers looked at each other uncomfortably, and whispered amongst themselves.

"I've got my eye on you. And now so does everyone else." Jett turned to leave.

"Won't you have a cup of tea first?" asked Iroh cordially.

Jet laughed.

One of the soldiers stood up. "I'm sorry sir, but we're going to have to detain you, at least temporarily. We can't have fire benders here unchecked."

"I understand completely." said Iroh.

Zuko gritted his teeth. The situation was not one he cared for.

They were escorted outside, and down a street, until they met with a pair of Dai Lee agents, to whom the soldiers turned them in.

* * *

In prison, Zuko paced rapidly. "Why did you have to tell them?" he asked. "We could have handled that situation perfectly fine without you blowing our biggest secret. Now we're here, and we'll never find peace. No matter how long we live here, this is something we will never live down!" he kicked a moldy pillow at his uncle.

The old man studied it as though wondering if a good tea could be made from that coloration of mold. Probably not.

"I'm sorry, Lee, but I got a strong feeling of foreboding about the idea of letting you two fight it out with swords. I'm sure you'd be just fine, but I don't think he would have been, and he was quite kind to us on our way here."

"So in short you can't even do what's best for yourself in a 'me or them' situation?"

"I would simply rather not. We'll be fine, you'll see. I got the impression he wouldn't have been. That's all."

* * *

The next day, they were brought out of their cell and taken out of the prison house by six Dai Li members. The agents led them down several streets, and Zuko recognized the way to the earth train station. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"Don't ask questions." said one of the agents.

"We're going to the train station. Are you deporting us? We haven't done anything wrong, you can't send us away just because we're fire benders."

"Not to worry, soon you will be safe again, inside our walls."

"I don't need your walls in order to be safe, I need to know what's happening to me."

"Here you are safe."

Zuko growled.

* * *

Under lake Laogai, a green crystal circled Uncle repetitively. "There is no war in Ba Sing Se." said the Dai Li agent in charge of brainwashing him.

"I have a question."

"There is no war in Ba Sing Se."

"No, but there is a question in my mind."

"Here we are safe."

"But apparently we are not very good listeners. I would just like to ask if I could have a cup of hot tea while I wait for you to say something relevant."

* * *

When it came time for Zuko's turn in the chair, he stared blankly out at the people around him, glaring as though they were about to kill him. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Hush. You are safe now."

"Obviously not."

"You are in Ba Sing Se."

"No I'm not, I'm underneath a huge green lake."

"There is no war in Ba Sing Se."

"Only to people who don't listen. Like you."

* * *

In the end, both Zuko and Iroh managed to fake being brainwashed well enough to escape with only minor headaches. As they rode the train back into the city, they stared blankly ahead of them, pretending not to know each other. When the train dropped them off, and they were well out of earshot of the Dai Li, Iroh's lips curled up into a gigantic smile. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked.

Zuko grumbled, as usual.

When they got back to the tea shop, they found Jet waiting for them. "Sorry about last night." he said. "It's just, like you said, I've seen first hand what the fire nation does to people. And you were also right that I'd never considered what the fire nation must do to its own citizens. It may not mean much to you, but I'd like to offer my apology."

Before Zuko could say something snide, Uncle said "Apology accepted. Would you like some tea?"

"I'd be glad of some."

"Hold on!" said Zuko. "Do you even know what we just went through because my uncle had to go and tell the truth. It was mind blowing. In fact it almost was literally."

"What?"

Uncle shook his head sadly. "The Dai Li tried to brainwash us. It didn't work, but it may be a while before our headaches subside."

"They tried to what?"

Zuko clenched his teeth. "They tried to tell us there was no war, and that we'd be safe here. It hurt my head."

"Gosh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize..."

"How much like the fire nation this city was? Well get this, the treatment we just received is something I wouldn't have expected to find anywhere but there either, but now, it's right here under your own feet."

"Wow."

"I'll say." Zuko's golden eyes glared at Jet as if daring him to defend himself.

"About that tea." said Uncle, and set about readying some.

* * *

That night, Jet sat with Smellerbee and Long Shot outside a local restaurant. The three of them had ordered noodles, and the bowls were hot and steamy in their hands.

"I never stopped to think about these things." said Jet. "The fire nation has always been my enemy. But now I see that some things about the earth kingdom are just the same as they are there, and not all the people from the fire nation are as bad as I thought they were either. A small band of freedom fighters might be what a little fire nation outpost needs to keep it in check, but I think I can finally see what Katara and the others meant. Finally, I see why they did what they did. In stead of just regretting what I did and not knowing why it was wrong, I finally have a clear picture. It all makes sense now. I should have realized that it's not any nationality or group that's good or bad, but each individual. I should have known that before, but I was too blind to realize it."

"Jet, it's great that you finally understand, but fighting the fire nation has always been our drive. Now that we see the world more clearly, what are we going to do?" asked Smellerbee.

"Fighting fire nation is still our drive. But now we can do it better. The avatar is still fighting it, and now if we ever meet him again, we'll be prepared to do things the right way. No more sacrificing villages, no more universal hatred. We have fight the fire nation for the freedom of other people, not because we think it's evil. We have to fight it for the good even of its own citizens. Now that I understand, I think I'll start recruiting again, but slowly at first. I doubt I've got everything figured out yet, and I want to have some time to think before things get out of hand. Does anybody know where The Duke and Pip Squeak went off to?"

Neither of the other freedom fighters said a word, but Long Shot dipped his head.

"Oh yea, they didn't say. And they were angry. Well, if we ever meet up with them again, I'll apologize and see if we can put things right. In the mean time, I think we can do some great good for the earth kingdom's chances in the war right here in Ba Sing Se."

"What do you mean?" asked Smellerbee.

Long Shot silently echoed her question.

"Lee said that the Dai Li tried to convince him that there was no war, and that nothing could touch him inside these walls. It sounds to me like the Dai Li stand in the way of the good of the general public. If we attack them, and bring them down, then the war will be laid out in the open for everyone to see. And then people will swarm to enlist in the earth king's army."

Long Shot looked pointedly at Jet.

"I doubt it. They don't seem very diplomatic."

The other boy nodded, and returned to his soup.

* * *

Later that night, a lone Dai Li agent was walking home when he was accosted by a figure standing about ten feet in front of him. The agent stopped, and squared his shoulders. "Who are you?" he asked.

The figure said nothing, and did not move.

"Get out of my way."

Then the figure moved, and when it did, it moved so quickly that the agent did not even have time to see what it did. A sword flashed in the moonlight, just for an instant, and then the figure was alone on the street. The Blue Spirit vanished into the shadows, not to be seen again that night.


	2. Chapter 2

"What's wrong with these people?" asked Jet. "None of them knows what's going on. They won't even listen to us. How can they be so willing to be blind?"

Long Shot shrugged.

"Walls and secrets my butt, these people are still human, and they should be able to grasp the concept of a simple threat."

Smellerbee sighed, and then spoke. "If it's as easy as this to trick someone, then I guess it'd be easy to control them. There are those who aren't fooled, just scared. Looks like you were right about the Dai Li's closeness to the fire nation. Two days with no results is a bit discouraging."

Long Shot tipped his head so that Jet could see his eyes.

"That's a good idea, but how many other angles do you see?" asked Jet. "We can't trick them ourselves, we're having enough trouble telling them the truth. And we obviously can't do it ourselves. They utterly outnumber us."

Another glance from the silent archer cause Jet to think. "Well, that'd be difficult. Really difficult. But we might be able to figure something out. I'll have to think about that. But right now I'm tired, and I'm thirsty." he stopped walking and looked up at the sign of the Jasmine Dragon. "You two up for some tea?"

Iroh smiled as he saw the three now familiar faces entering his tea shop. "What can I get you?" he asked. Zuko came up behind his uncle, and a small smile reached his lips as he saw the guests.

"Some tea is all I'm afraid." Jet answered. "I'd like some blackberry if you have any."

Smellerbee gave her order. "Litchi tea, if you don't mind."

Long Shot nodded.

"Ok." said Uncle. "Blackberry, litchi and chai it is then."

Zuko's face reflected confusion. "What?" he asked. "He didn't say anything."

"Yes he did, you just didn't hear it." said Iroh. Zuko rolled his eyes.

When he had a break, Zuko came to sit with the three of them. He sat down next to Long Shot and leaned against the wall. "Hey, how's it going?" he asked. He had become a great deal more comfortable with the freedom fighters since the incident.

"Maybe you can help us." said Jet. "We've got a problem. I've been thinking about what you said regarding the Dai Li. It seems to me that they exhibit many of the flaws and evils I tried to fight against when I fought the fire nation. We've decided to try and bring them down so that the city will be free to see the war around it. But we need to assemble an organization to do so, and we can't find anyone who will even say that the Dai Li are anything but honorable. Obviously their view of honor is very different from ours."

"I see." Zuko said. "And do you have any ideas on how to change that?"

"Well, Long Shot suggested that we could force the Dai Li to behave dishonorably in public, and we were trying to come up with an idea for how to do that."

"Ah." Zuko leaned forward. "Well, obviously your first problem is figuring out what the commoners would view as unfavorable, and then you'll have to find something that you can make them do."

Jet stared at the table. "I'm afraid I'm not very good at that kind of thing." he said.

"Well, villagers hate a lot of things." Zuko thought for a bit. "Taxes being a prime example. Abuse, murder, theft, rape, misuse of power. And of course they're always whispering of prophesy."

"How would that help us?"

"Well, maybe most of them really don't feel any enmity toward the Dai Li, but there will always be those who do. What you really need is a way to draw out those ones. If you start a rumor about a prophesy regarding the downfall of the Dai Li, then the true colors of whomever hears it will be shown in his reaction. And, it might make the Dai Li anxious, which would cause them to tighten their hold on the populace, losing more allies in the process."

"Lee, that's brilliant!"

"Thanks, but if you try that method, don't let it be your only plan. You need a backup idea, just in case. Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

"You're right." Jet sucked on his wheat stem. "But I'm not much good at these things. What kind of prophesy would get people's attention?"

Zuko stood. "Tell them that it has long been foretold," he said, "that The Blue Spirit would bring low the Dai Li and free Ba Sing Se. That should do the trick. The Blue spirit is a myth and a legend, making him the perfect subject for prophesy."

The next morning, three men stood talking at a restaurant bar called Mina's Chickengoose. One of the men was Jet.

"I heard that a Dai Li agent was killed a few nights ago." said one who was not Jet.

"Really?" he asked. "I thought the Dai Li were all but invincible."

"Yea, found his body in an alley. Marks looked like broadswords."

"Interesting." Jet wore a long flowing blue robe and a rice hat on his head. He had foregone the wheat today, to help disguise himself. "I have to wonder…"

"Wonder about what?" asked the man.

"Oh, nothing really. It's just that several years ago my grandfather told me a story about a prophesy, back when I was still young and easily influenced. He said that One day the Dai Li would be overcome by The Blue Spirit, and that the city would be free and peace would be restored."

The other men looked at each other, their expressions betraying temporary horror.

"It's not safe to talk like that." said one. "Your grandfather must have been a brave man to say such things."

Jet smiled. "He died years ago, far from here at the hands of the fire nation."

The men checked about themselves to be certain that no one was near enough to hear them.

"Do you know who made this prophesy?"

"Unfortunately my grandfather would be the one to ask about that, and as I said, he's dead."

"Things are already pretty peaceful. The Dai Li are peacekeepers, not peace offenders."

"So you say, and so they say. But what do your eyes tell you? What does your heart really say? You have seen the way they treat people here. They may keep peace, but a bad peace is even worse than war."

"But there is no war in Ba Sing Se."

"One has to wonder how well the Dai Li would fare if there was one."

The three became quiet as some citizens walked behind them. Jet's smile returned, broader this time. He knew that elsewhere in the city, Long Shot and Smellerbee were doing similar things, and he knew that the men he had spoken to were thinking.

Three days later, the freedom fighters met back at the Jasmine Dragon. They sat and sipped their tea, discussing their progress until Zuko came to join them.

"Well, if it isn't everyone's favorite freedom fighters." said Zuko. "How is stuff going?"

"Pretty well actually." Jet set his tea cup down on the table. "We've done nothing but spread rumors for the last three days. At first people were cold and unresponsive, but then we met some who were hopeful, and said the Dai Li were a thorn in the side of this city, and seemed almost certain to tell their closest friends. The news is sweeping over the city, in hushed voices, and as you say it is bringing true colors to the light on every side. Some people have even reported seeing The Blue Spirit. Even some who never thought about it before have come to view the Dai Li as they are simply because of this prophesy. You're a genius, Lee. It's working just as you said it would. Soon we can start recruiting, and planning strategies. And none of it would have happened if not for you."

Zuko smiled. "I've heard rumors that The Blue Spirit is about. And I've been helping spread the rumor too, though not here. It'd be bad for business."

"Awesome. Glad to have your help." said Jet.

"So what are you going to do now?" asked Zuko.

"Look for people again I guess. I think we'll find some this time."

Two days later, the three slumped into the tea shop again, and ordered their usuals.

"What's the matter?" asked Zuko, as he brought their orders.

"All the people we told have been mind wiped." said Jet. "We're essentially right back where we started. And worse yet…" he pulled a piece of paper from a bag on his belt and spread it on the table. On it were two pictures of him. It was well drawn; whoever the artist was had some real talent, as well as real cheek. The pictures depicted him from different angles, and both included his normal stalk of wheat.

"You look good." said Zuko, sarcastically.

"Thanks, obviously they really want me bad."

Zuko's eyes read the print at the bottom. "Reward: The Whisperer, two hundred gold coins, for crimes against the earth kingdom." He looked up. "I wondered why you didn't wear the wheat today."

"Yea, we've got problems, obviously. We may have to do this on our own, or at least look elsewhere." Jet looked up at Zuko's golden eyes, preparing to judge a reaction. "Our friend The Blue Spirit has been busy again."

"Really?"

"He's killed several guards now. It appears someone who heard our rumor didn't get caught, and has been putting on the mask almost every night for a while now. Dai Li are dropping like flies, and he's got an impressive reward on his head too. Eight hundred. Four times what they'll give for me."

Zuko smiled. "Sounds to me like you're not entirely alone." he said, and returned to his work.


	3. Chapter 3

Two Dai Li agents stood, back to back, in the narrow alley. A third lay beside them with an arrow protruding from his liver. They peered apprehensively at the shadows around them.

"Come out now!" shouted one. Another arrow zipped through the air, and he almost wasn't quick enough to block it with his stone gloves. "You're going to regret that!" he shouted.

Then the two agents found that they were not alone in the alley. A teenaged boy had dropped from above, landing not three yards from them. His dark hair was long, disappearing into the shadows, and his clothes were accented by bits of armor. In his hands were two vicious looking hooked swords.

Speaking around the wheat stem in his mouth, Jet said "Down you go." It was his signature line.

Down they went.

* * *

Zuko stretched in the cool morning air. His muscles were tired from the hard night before. He needed to get more sleep. Vaguely, he considered giving up his role as The Blue Spirit to Jet, who could probably use it far better. But then he decided not to. It was something that had meant far too much to him in the past to give up now.

He yawned. After work the night before, he had "Taken a stroll" which meant that he had sneaked away and killed some more Dai Li agents. He had not gotten back home till almost midnight, and had slept restlessly for the rest of the night. He was finding it more and more difficult to stay awake during the day. He hoped that the freedom fighters would visit the tea shop again that day. He could use the company.

* * *

As luck had it, the three did stop in later that day. They were eager to tell Zuko what had transpired after he said goodbye to them the day before.

"Well, we've finally scratched the surface." said Jet when Zuko finally found time to sit and enjoy some tea with them. It's not much, but we did it. We took down three of them last night."

Zuko looked around hastily to make sure no one was listening. "You might want to lower your voice a little." he said. The last thing any of them wanted was to be overheard, and they all knew it.

"Right." said Jet. "Anyway," he continued in a low whisper, "we took out three Dai Li agents last night, and more will follow. If we take them on little by little, we can hardly help but win. They didn't put up much of a fight."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

"That's good. But I think The Blue Spirit did better last night." Zuko pulled a poster out from under his apron and showed it to all of them.

The Blue Spirit's reward had increased, the news bulletin said, and also revealed that the reward had put four new kills under his belt.

"He outdid you by one. This myth you created may actually give you a run for your money with taking them down."

Jet looked at the bulletin in disbelief for a moment, then smiled. "I hope he does." he said. "The closer the better."

* * *

For four more days the killings continued. As the Dai Li's losses grew, Jet thought more and more often about meeting the character he and Zuko had inspired, and joining forces, but he could not find him, and they were already fighting on the same side, so there was really very little reason for his concern. They seemed to answer each other's challenges as it was, one killing more in a night than the other and thereby challenging other to do better. The score climbed eventually to seven for The Blue Spirit, and for The Whisperer six. The two looked forward to continuing their struggle the next day.

* * *

"What in all of earth is happening to us?" the Dai Li captain shouted. His finger roamed over a map of Ba Sing Se, which was marked here and there with red splotches to note hit zones in which the organization had lost members. There were far too many of them. Normally the Dai Li lost fewer than two members every month, but in only half that time they had lost more than sixty men. There were hundreds of them of course, perhaps even thousands, but a loss like this could not go unfelt.

The other agents in the room stiffened, each one expecting to be slapped.

"We are the Dai Li. We used to be invincible, but now who is this Blue Spirit who keeps taking our good soldiers away, and this whisperer? They are depleting our reputation, as well as our number, man by man, faster than we can replace them. How can this be happening?" he glared at his men.

"Stealth?" offered one.

"Yes, but how dumb are we to let them get the drop on us?"

Another Dai Li member bowed his head before speaking. "For all we know, they could be the same person."

"That's an excellent idea." said the captain, looking at him. "When you kill one, we'll see if the other stops." he pulled out a knife and drove it into the table. "I want you to devote full effort to finding and killing these two!" he shouted.

* * *

"Nine?" asked Zuko.

Jet smiled. "That's right, I'd like to see The Blue Spirit top that in one night. I'm sure he will eventually, but I doubt it will be right away." He leaned back in his seat and rested his soar muscles. The night was late, and the tea smelled wonderful.

In an unusual feat of greatness, Jet and his gang had finished their nightly business early, and found The Jasmine Dragon still open when they returned.

"Oh, I have a feeling he will." said Zuko. "He usually does. I think it inspires him."

"Will you ever join us when we do these things?" asked Jet. "I bet together we could rack up a score that will really inspire him."

"I have no doubt we could, but I'm afraid that I need to keep a low profile for now. Given our recent encounter, I think it would be unwise to attract undue attention."

"Good point. Still, any time you feel like doing a little…you know," Jet mouthed the words _"fire bending"._

"I'll keep it in mind." Zuko moved away from his friends' table, and swept the floor meticulously.

Jet sat in thought for several moments. Then Long Shot looked at him with an expression of urgency, and he quickly turned his head to look at the counter. As his friend had said, four Dai Li agents were ordering tea.

The boys glanced at Smellerbee.

She looked at the table. "Not in the tea shop, we can't do that. It'd be bad for our friends' business."

Long Shot nodded knowingly, as did Jet.

Jet understood the sentiment, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. _What can I do to lure them out?_ he thought.

Not being able to do anything infuriated part of him, and he chewed on the idea for a few minutes before pulling a stalk of wheat out of his bag and putting the end in his mouth. It helped calm him.

"Hey! That kid over there is The Whisperer!" shouted a customer, and suddenly all eyes were on Jet. "I recognize that wheat stem!"

"Dang it!" said Jet, then glaring at the old man who had spoken, "It's not even the same one old fool!"

The Dai Li were off their stools in an instant.

_Looks like tonight's score is gonna go up to thirteen._ thought Jet. "Down you go."

"No," said Iroh, coming from behind the counter, "if they're going down, they're doing it outside! Not in my tea shop!"

"Guys, get outside." said Jet to his companions. He noticed that Lee had disappeared.

Long Shot and Smellerbee did as asked, leaving the tea shop and standing ready in the street, followed by their leader.

Then followed the Dai Li, standing adjacent the freedom fighters. There were only three now.

_Where'd the fourth one go?_ Jet thought to himself. _I guess he must have high tailed it to get some more Dai Li. We'd better make this quick. I'll settle for twelve._

The six readied themselves to fight.

One of the agents threw his stone gloves at Jet, but he easily blocked them with his hooked swords, sending them flying into a nearby wall.

Long Shot drew his bow and let an arrow fly at their attackers, but it was blocked by the agent facing him.

Smellerbee lowered herself in her stance, dagger at the ready.

Then the agents rushed forward as one, leaping through the air with stone spurs springing up under their feet to give them greater distance and height.

Jet sidestepped his attacker, and hooked a sword around his ankle, throwing him roughly to the ground, and hoping that it would break some ribs.

The other two agents were a bit more lucky. One kicked Long Shot in the chest, shoving him backwards and to the ground. The other's boot disarmed Smellerbee as he landed, casting her dagger in Jet's direction, but it didn't hit him. The agent who kicked the knife was the closer of the two standing up to the leader of the freedom fighters. As he pulled his arms back in preparation to throw his gloves, Jet hooked a sword end around his wrist, and when he lunged forward he was unable to follow through, which caused the stone gloves to fall to the ground harmlessly.

Jet twisted his sword maliciously, breaking the man's wrist, then kicked him in the groin. As the agent toppled and fell, he turned his attention back to the one who had originally attacked him. He found the agent on his feet, but Smellerbee had her arms around his neck. She twisted, and after a brief snapping sound there was only one agent left.

The last Dai Li member stood at a distance, carefully keeping his eyes on each of the freedom fighters. They stood there for more than a minute, eyeing one another, each praying that the other would make the next move.

A large crowd had gathered, and women gasped as they saw what had transpired. The two motionless agents, one dead, one in agony. The one standing up, and the locally legendary Whisperer.

Then came what Jet had dreaded. On his swords, he caught a pair of them, but he could not stop them all. Six pairs of stone gloves rushed at him and his companions. Long Shot and Smellerbee went down immediately, with the rock shackles binding their hands and feet. Jet's hands were free still, but another pair of gloves slipped under his swords and caught his feet, pulling them together.

He fell to the ground, the stone street smashing his back hard, but in only an instant he had swung his left sword down, smashing the rock and freeing his legs. He leapt to his feet and charged the last of the original assailants, desperately flailing out at him. In a stroke of luck, he snagged the man's throat, killing him.

Then he was facing the rest of the Dai Li. There were six new arrivals, and no doubt more on their way. He gritted his teeth. _This could be tough._ he thought.

Then something else happened. A blue specter flew from the roof of the tea shop at the Dai Li agents. Any of them who had not thrown, or who had retrieved their rock gloves, cast them at it, tearing it apart in the air. Straw flew everywhere, and the agents studied the thing they had killed as it struck the ground with a pitiful "Whump".

Then a breathless whisper behind them said "I guess you need to work on your aim."

They all turned to look at their new assailant, but two only got one glimpse of him. One slash beheaded them both.

The other four retreated to what they thought was a safe distance, but they had all but forgotten Jet now, and one paid the price for ignoring him when he got too close. Jet hooked his swords together and swung them at the man, catching him in the chest, snapping several ribs, and cutting open his heart.

Jet looked at his new ally. As he had suspected, it was The Blue Spirit.

The vigilante twisted and turned in every direction, whirling his two swords around like the turning petals of a falling lotus blossom, cutting through the legs and neck of one of the agents with ease. He pursued the other two as the crowd parted to allow them through, and Jet ran to his friends. He broke the rocks on their limbs with his swords, and helped them up.

"Thanks." said Smellerbee.

"Any time, now lets move." Jet lead them after their friend, leaping over the bodies of the slain Dai Li. The Blue Spirit had killed another one in the mean time.

Long Shot came to a halt, and pulled an arrow from his quiver. He drew his bow and waited till there was space to shoot without hitting The Blue Spirit, or anyone in the crowd, and fired.

The last Dai Li agent fell.

The Blue Spirit straightened, then sheathed his broad swords and looked directly at Jet. "If I were you," came the same breathless whisper he had used when speaking to the Dai Li, "I'd consider getting a mask."

Then he was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Ok, sorry this one's short. As usual, I own nothing. Btw, thank you Invisible Firebender for your input, it was helpful.

* * *

They didn't dare meet Lee again for well over a week afterward. Jet didn't dare to show himself in the open after being recognized. Again and again he considered taking The Blue Spirit's advice and getting a mask to wear during his escapades, but he couldn't find one that suited him. Nothing looked quite the way he wanted it to. All the masks he saw depicted happy features and laughing people. Not one of them seemed to say anything about a war in Ba Sing Se.

Whenever he went on a masquerade, he tied a piece of black cloth around his face from the nose down. People recognized him when he fought, but the occasions on which he was recognized during the rest of the day became more and more scarce, which was a welcome change. But it didn't give quite the affect that a real mask would.

* * *

Zuko yawned as he examined the cabbages for sale. They were surprisingly good quality.

"Do you get much business?" he asked.

"Not so much really." said the merchant. "People keep wrecking my cabbage cart, and it's not fair. You can only go through so many cabbages a year."

Then a voice Zuko had heard often before sounded beside him.

"Hey Lee." said Smellerbee.

"Hey there." he said, without turning around. "Where's Jet?"

"He's too embarrassed to talk to you." she said. She didn't have to say "_If you know what I mean."_ He did know what she meant.

"Tell him it's alright. He doesn't have to be afraid of us, and he can swing by any time if he wants. It's not that rough a crowd."

"Thanks, I know it'll mean a lot to him."

* * *

"Sorry we cost you so much business." said Jet. He and the other freedom fighters were back in their favorite seats at the tea shop, but they wore disguises just in case, and he was careful to avoid the wheat stem. Uncle had brewed a specialty just for him: wheat flavored tea. It helped take his mind off of the withdrawal.

"Not at all." said Zuko. "For a day or two we were the most popular tea shop around. Everybody wanted to see where that fight happened, and we were right here when they had their fill with the scene."

"Well I'm glad we could help, but hopefully there'll be no reason to have another episode like that. I don't think a repeat would be as good for business."

"Probably not." Zuko leaned closer. "Either stick around a while, or come back later." he said. "I've got something for you."

* * *

Just after closing time, as the last customer left the tea shop, Jet arrived. He was along this time, still hooded in his dark blue cloak, and not chewing wheat so as not to attract unwanted attention.

"Welcome back." said Zuko, making sure no one was watching before ushering him in.

"So what's so important?" asked Jet, taking the shortest route, as usual.

Zuko walked behind the counter and pulled out a wad of cloth and handed it to Jet.

Jet unwound the cloth and stared. Inside was a mask that looked as though it would fit him perfectly. It was reminiscent of that of The Blue Spirit, but not the same. It was red for one thing. Not a light hearted pinky red, nor a deep somber cherry red. It was bright, but not flashy, and Jet knew that in the dark it would melt into the shadows as if it were black.

The expression it wore was a bit less demonic, but somehow if anything more menacing. Its teeth were shorter, but stuck out at a slightly more realistic angle, and were as sharp as needles at their tips.

Its eyes were long and narrow, but wide enough to see through, and looked very angry.

"Where did you get this?" asked Jet.

"I know a guy." said Zuko.

After Jet had long since gone, and when Zuko was sitting alone at one of the tables brooding to himself, Uncle came down the stairs from their living quarters.

"Our friends were here, weren't they?" he asked.

"One of them."

"What did he want?"

"A kind word and a small cup of tea. That's all."

Uncle did not look satisfied with the information, but sat across from his nephew without mentioning it anyway. "You know," he said, "if you can't sleep, you should try some of my poppy seed tea. It works wonders."

"I'm not tired, and I'm not thirsty."

Uncle thought to himself for a few minutes. Time dragged on and he thought about many things. He almost had an answer concocted when he realized that Zuko was asleep. "Sleep well, my nephew." he said.

* * *

"Please!" shouted the last agent in the line. The Red Whisperer stood over him, swords drawn with four dead agents behind him. "I'm a good man! You're doing the wrong thing!"

Jet sighed. It had already been two days since he had received the mask, and it had worked wonders. Wearing it, he was much more fearsome, and people had already begun to forget what he looked like without it.

He looked down at the pitiful man before him. "And what exactly can you do to atone for the wrongs you have done this city?" he asked. "You and the other Dai Li have hidden the truth from these people. They have been in danger from the very start, and only those near the outer wall have any clue. You and I both know there is a war in Ba Sing Se, but you try to hide it, and I'll keep killing you as long as you do."

"No!" the man crawled backward, his stone gloves forgotten. "I'll leave the Dai Li forever! I'll never come back, I swear!"

Jet thought about it. The man wasn't fighting back anymore, and as much as he hated the Dai Li, he did not want to be a murderer. "There are certain conditions." he said. "I can't trust you in here. Not only must you leave the Dai Li, but you must leave Ba Sing Se, and you must leave the earth nation. You must be where you have no choice but to fight the fire nation. Any member of the Dai Li had best be prepared to leave behind not only their identities as the faceless policemen, but even their very lives, one way or another. You have ten seconds to run, and then if I ever catch you in here again, you'll be as dead as a rock."

Jet counted to ten, and the man made it.

Panting, The Red Whisperer sheathed his swords. Five Dai Li agents in two minutes was nothing if not tiring, even if one was a pipsqueak. The thought brought back memories of his old friend, and regret washed over him for the words he had used at their last meeting.

Then, to his surprise, he heard someone clapping. He looked around to find the source, then spotted The Blue Spirit leaning against a wall. He walked over and greeted him.

"Hello Blue Spirit." he said.

The Blue Spirit finished clapping and crossed its arms in front of itself. "Well done." it said. "Not only did you top my score for tonight, but you managed to find a little mercy in yourself. You probably did that one more good that any other individual in Ba Sing Se. He'll probably be the first to start fighting the fire nation."

Jet stared at him. "Thanks." he said, at length. "But I'm curious, when exactly did you start masquerading?"

"Oh, not long before you did."

"Did you hear my rumor about the prophesy?"

"I've been The Blue Spirit since long before I heard that."

"You have?"

The Blue Spirit laughed. "Didn't you think it odd that when I gave you the idea I hit the nail right on the head?" he asked, then reached up to remove his mask.

But even before he finished, Jet knew who he was. "Lee?"

"Zuko pulled his hood down and held his mask in his left hand. "That's right." he said. "The fact is, I've been doing this since the incident. But I wasn't quite so affective until you started doing it too. Once I had competition, I was really a force to be reckoned with."

Jet let out a long low whistle as he realized everything that had been going on. "So much makes sense now." he said.

Zuko replaced his mask on his face. "I've got to get back now, before Uncle misses me, and I need some sleep. You should probably get some too. A man needs his rest. Swing by the shop again some time, and I'll tell you more about myself, and everything that's happened to me."

And then he was gone, and Jet was alone on the street.


	5. My name is Zuko

Thanks again to everyone who comments, you really help a lot. The only reason this chapter has a name and the others don't is because it's significant, and I wanted to, so yea. And as long as I'm saying this, I might as well remind everyone, I do not own the characters, the world, or any other aspect of Avatar the Last Airbender.

* * *

"Ok, so what's this about?" asked Jet. Lee had insisted on bringing them upstairs to talk about his life, and as interesting as the living quarters were, Jet could not stand pausing to admire them when there was something so much more interesting going on.

They all sat with their legs crossed on the floor, Smellerbee on Jet's right, Long Shot on his left, and Lee across from him. Jet's back was to the door.

"Ok," said Lee, "Well, when I first met you three, I was a refugee desperately hoping not to be noticed in territory I had grown up thinking of as enemy land. So my uncle and I lied to everyone, including you, and pretended to be from the earth kingdom."

"Nobody could blame you." said Smellerbee. "I mean it would be the same for us if we were looking for refuge in the fire nation."

Lee smiled grimly. "Except that that would never happen, would it Jet?"

"Probably not, no."

"I thought so, and I don't blame you either. But then when we were discovered because my uncle had to be so dumb and actually tell everyone we were fire benders, we had to tell a little bit of the truth. But it still wasn't everything. We couldn't say it all with so many people right there. If he had, the Dai Li might have killed us." Lee looked at the floor, breathing heavily. "Before I say anything more, I want you all to know that I'm as much on your side of the war as you are, or at least I am now."

"Of course." said Smellerbee.

Long Shot nodded.

"I trust you, to a certain extent." said Jet.

"Ok. Thanks guys." Lee looked at the ceiling. "My uncle and I aren't really from the fire nation colonies. We're actually from the fire nation itself."

Jet and Smellerbee seemed a bit surprised at that, but Long Shot only smiled, and Jet made no immediate move to attack Lee.

"Actually we were nobility there. Some of what we told you was true, my father did give me this scar, right before he banished me from our home. I spent three years chasing the avatar because I thought it was the only way to regain my honor, and I caught him several times, but he always got away. Then my sister showed up, and tried to take me back to the fire nation in chains, but my uncle was wise and strong, and we escaped. After that we came here, both branded as traitors, and both enemies of the fire nation. And we met you, and things went on from there." He paused before continuing. "My name is Zuko."

"I thought so." said Long Shot.

Surprised as they were by Lee's revelation, Long Shot's reaction made it look like peanuts to them, and they sat gawking at him for a second.

Then Jet recovered. "Wow, I didn't realize just how much Long Shot cared about you, or how perceptive he was."

"Are you angry?" asked Zuko, as though he was afraid Jet would try to kill him right there.

"Just little. I'm more angry at myself than at you. You had to lie, but I should have known. Dude, you have three identities now. The silent warrior, the refugee, and the fire nation prince. That's awesome. And quite frankly, I never thought I'd respect anyone from the fire nation as much as I do you."

Zuko's eyes fell on the rug again, shining with relief. "Yea, The Blue Spirit is what I rely on when I can't do anything with who I normally am. Lee is a pathetic kid always having to save his uncle from dangerous plants. And Zuko is prince of a nation bent on expansion, constantly searching for a final hope of redemption. A prince in exile, banished and disgraced."

"I don't think so." Jet said. "I think that in truth you weren't banished at all, you were freed. And what you perceive to be your greatest shame shines to us as a badge of honor. You left the fire nation, even though you were so high up. It doesn't matter how or why you did it, the fact is that you're on our side now. You've seen what your own people will do, and you don't like it any more than we do. I think you behave more honorably in exile than you ever did in the fire nation. Of course…I never saw you in the fire nation, I've never even been there. But I'd be willing to bet."

"Thank you." Once the initial shock was over with, the rest came easily. Zuko told his friends all about the fire nation, and why he had been banished, and his family, and the avatar, and generally everything about himself. When he was finished, Jet told about his own encounter with the avatar, and the shame of what he had tried to do to the village under the dam. He also told about his family, and what the fire nation had done to them.

* * *

When the friends parted ways that afternoon, they all appreciated one another more than they had before, and Jet's "See you tonight, Spirit" was enough to imply that the Dai Li game was still on.

And it was still on. That night, the four met on the flat roof of a building several miles from Uncle's tea shop, and they made a night of it. Their score had never been higher, and all went to bed that night feeling that everything would be alright.

* * *

The next morning however, things took an unexpected turn.

Zuko woke up bright and early, satisfied that things were going well. He walked over to see what his uncle was doing.

"What are you cooking?" he asked.

"I don't think you'd like it." said Uncle.

"Well it smells delicious."

Surprise overcame Iroh's face, but he was glad for it, and accepted it as a blessing.

But later that morning, Zuko came across a poster on the bulletin board nearest the shop. On it, he saw a shape he knew very well. It was Appa.

Quickly he climbed to the roof of the tea shop and looked around for any sign of the sky bison, but he didn't see anything.

* * *

Later, Jet and the other freedom fighters came to the shop again.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Jet.

Zuko slammed the poster down on the table. "An old friend of ours is in the city, it would seem."

Jet stared at the paper. "Aang."

"And Katara." said Smellerbee, mischievously.

"Probably." said Jet. He looked up at Zuko. "Are you thinking of going after them again?" he asked.

"Of course I thought about it. It figures this would come out just as I was starting to be able to forget about it. After three years of my life spent chasing him, and little more than a month to recuperate, of course the idea crossed my mind. But I can't just get up and go. Even though every fiber in me wants to go chasing after him, I have to stay here. I can't blow my cover, and I can't bring myself to destroy the last hope the earth kingdom has of winning this war. But believe me, every part of me wants to."

"Well if we're not gonna do anything about it, then why is this significant?" asked Jet.

"We have to do something, don't we?"

"Well, what could we do?"

"If I'm not going to capture the avatar, then I might as well help him. The avatar is the only one who can defeat my father, and as long as he's missing his bison he's vulnerable and weak."

"Ok, but how do we find his bison? It could be anywhere."

"No it couldn't, not just anywhere. These posters are all over this city. My guess is that the avatar thinks his bison is here in Ba Sing Se. And who do we know who know everything that happens in this city?"

"The Dai Li."

"Exactly. And if the Dai Li have him, or information about him, where would they keep it?"

That temporarily stumped Jet, but then he remembered what Zuko had said about the Dai Li's headquarters. "Lake Laogai." he said decidedly.

"Precisely."

"But we can't go into the lion-turtle's den, can we? We'd be disintegrated before we got to the front entrance."

"That's why we need the avatar. It's his bison, he can get it back. All we need to do is show him where to look."

"Ok," Jet said, looking a little sheepish, "but which one of us gets the unlucky task of letting Katara know we're in the vicinity? She's a bit ticked off at both of us you know."

"Well not you as much as me. I think Smellerbee and Long Shot should break the ice, no pun intended, and let them know you're here and that you want to talk to them. Then you can explain things, and when they understand I'll come out, and we can all go to the lake together."

"I don't know if we'd better introduce you to them." Jet said, looking doubtful. "They might think it was a trap. If you could get into the headquarters independently it would probably be better. That way you can us stealth to clear the way a little while we just work on getting the avatar in. It'll work much better that way, and they never have to know that you're involved."

Zuko though for a few long seconds. Jet's idea seemed to make perfect sense. The avatar would have to a fool not to suspect a trap if he knew everyone who was involved.

"You make a good point." he said. "Alright, lets do it that way."


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the delay, as always. Yet another restatement, I do not own Avatar or any aspect of it, and thank you to everyone who comments. Also sorry so little happens in this chapter.

* * *

"Hey there, Katara?"

Katara's eyes, which had been narrowed slits of ice, snapped open wide, and she whipped around, popping the stopper off her water pouch, ready to defend herself as she recognized the voice that spoke.

"What do _you_ want?" she spat.

Jet looked at the ground. "Sorry, I just saw you there, and had to call out to you. I actually did want to talk to you, but I had intended to send Smellerbee and Long Shot to talk to you first to let you know I was around so you could warm up to the idea slowly."

Katara's eyes flashed with a dangerous fire, and she sent out a gushing torrent of water from her pouch, freezing the deadly liquid around Jet's right forearm, pinning it to his side.

"And why should I give you the chance to even say one word?" she asked, accusingly.

"Umh…" said Toph beside her, "didn't you just say a lot more than one word to him?"

"Be quiet Toph, that's not important."

"Oh I see," Toph's voice clearly betrayed annoyance now. "'Toph, don't interfere, I can say as many nonsensical things as I want to if I'm doing it for the higher cause of spinning my bad ex boyfriend in circles.'"

Katara's eyes grew truly wild at that, and she rounded on her friend. "He's not my ex boyfriend!" she shouted.

"Katara, I can tell you're lying. I can always tell."

In the brief moment during which Katara was stumped, Jet held up the poster of Appa with his left hand. "I just wanted to talk to you about where to find your bison!" he shouted. "Katara, please unfreeze my arm."

"You liar!" Katara shouted at him. "You just want to use me and my friends again, but it won't happen!"

"Actually," said Toph, "he's telling the truth."

For a moment it looked as though Katara was going to argue, but then she relaxed. "Well then we'll take him back to Aang, and we'll see what he thinks."

* * *

At their house, Katara and Toph opened the door and ushered in a blindfolded Jet. Katara had insisted on the blindfold.

"Look what we found wandering the streets." Katara said, giving her prisoner a rough shove.

Sokka and Aang stood up from where they had been playing cards on the floor.

"Oh high there Jet." said Sokka. "Normally I'd be as apprehensive as Katara is, but I doubt you'll find it easy to flood Ba Sing Se."

Aang eyed Jet suspiciously. Jet had been the first boy Katara had ever kissed, and Aang had hoped for that position himself. "Hello." he said

"Hey Aang; Sokka. Katara, could I please have my eyes back now?"

Katara turned away, but Toph reached up and pulled the blind fold off of Jet's head.

"Thank you." he said.

"Ok." said Aang. "You're here, now what's this about?"

"It's about Appa. Is there anywhere where we can sit down to talk?" he asked.

The avatar nodded, and beckoned him into the room before sitting on the floor again.

Team Avatar sat in a circle with Jet amongst them.

"Well, I don't really know where to start." Jet said. "I've been in this city for a while, but at first I didn't know you'd lost your bison, or even that you were here. My friends and I have been fighting the Dai Li-" he stopped as Katara flashed a visual snarl at him, but continued at the urgings of the others, "-we've been at it for weeks now. We have alter egos and everything. I'm The Red Whisperer you might have heard of, and my friend, who wished to remain anonymous is The Blue Spirit. He doesn't want you to know who he is because…because like me you've had run-ins with him before and as I understand it you're on even less friendly terms with him."

Alarm filled Jet's eyes. He saw the reactions on the faces of the people he was with as soon as he mentioned The Blue Spirit, and he realized that they must know who he was.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did I give away our alter identities? That was a really dumb thing to do._

Only Toph remained unaffected. It seemed she had not heard of The Blue Spirit before.

But the others had.

"Oh, we know who The Blue Spirit is." said Sokka. "He's Zuko's alter ego. And you're right, we've had nothing but trouble from him from day one. On day one, we found Aang, and later on day one his ship arrived with the big black metal, and all the ash in the ocean killing all our fish, and the soldiers, and their 'crackle crackle' fire bending, and he tried to capture Aang and take him back to the fire nation, and our experience with him has been nothing but a long line of similar events."

Katara looked furious. "Really Jet, if you wanted to do anything in your ability to make your position with us any worse, you couldn't have done any better than to tell us that you and Zuko are working together."

"Really," Aang said, reluctant as usual to condemn anyone, "they are right. Our relationship with Zuko has been a bit on the down side of our lives."

"A bit heated at the best of times." said Sokka.

"Alright!" Jet shouted. He could not contain himself anymore. "I get that he's been really bad to the lot of you in the past, but he's changed. He's changed even to the point where _I_ would talk civilly to him, and he really wants you to get your bison back, so you can take my help or leave it."

"And how do we know it isn't just another trap he's laid for us?" asked Katara.

"Do you really think I'd come anywhere within near vicinity of a master water bender who had good reason to hate me for something as paltry as a trap?"

"If you were scared enough of Zuko you might."

"Excuse me?" Toph raised her hand. "If you lot aren't all too engrossed in your hatred of one another to listen to the voice of reason, I have something I'd like to point out."

"What is it Toph?" asked Katara, a bit softer than when she spoke to Jet.

"From the little you've told me, Jet hates nothing in the whole world quite so much as the fire nation. Zuko is the prince of the fire nation. You've told me a little about both of them, and from what I can see there's no way those two would work together unless one or both of them really had changed. Something tells me that Jet hasn't joined the fire nation, and we haven't had any trouble from Zuko since before we lost Appa. And for your information, Jet hasn't lied once since we met him, and nobody's that good a liar."

Aang and the others were silent for a moment, which dragged on into several moments, and then a minute. The two water tribe teens and the avatar were all trying to find a flaw in Toph's reasoning, but none of them could.

"Alright." said Aang, at last. "We'll give you a chance, but you've only got the one, understand?"


	7. Chapter 7

Yes! This is the last chapter! Thank you all for your patience, you have been a great audience, especially the ones who reviewed this story. You are awesome, and I thank you.

Also, just to note yet again, I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender, or any aspect thereof.

* * *

Jet blinked. He, Long Shot, Smellerbee and Aang's group were all standing at the edge of Lake Laogai and staring at the surface.

"Well…" he said sheepishly, fearing for the worst, "This is right where he said it was…"

Most of Aang's group looked at him angrily as though daring him to prove his word, but once again Toph came to his rescue.

"There is a tunnel out there." she said, feeling the ground with her feet. "It's just underwater, that's all." she extended her foot and stomped on the ground. Violent ripples spread from the land nearest her as though she was a water bender rather than an earth bender, and a pathway emerged, leading from where they stood to a hatch more than a hundred feet away on the lake's surface.

"There we go." said Toph. As if there was nothing else to be said, she walked out onto her bridge and headed toward the hatch, Jet following thankfully, with the rest in tow.

They entered the hatch, and followed a long winding staircase to the bottom, where they found a dark and wet passage. They had gone little more than a few yards, when they heard voices coming from a door to the left. Jet crept forward and peered in.

"I am Ju Dee." said Lao Feng. "Welcome to Ba Sing Se."

A shiver ran down Jet's back as he heard the words echoed by a group of young women in their zombie like tone, and he realized that he was brainwashing them.

The group zipped by the room quietly, unnoticed by the Dai Li's leader. They continued down their hall till they came into a large room filled with enormous earthen doors.

"He could be in one of these." said Jet. "Let's look." He approached one of the doors and pulled a lever to open it.

Appa groaned, and lifted his head at the sound of stone grating on stone, looking to see who had opened the door and hoping it was Aang.

"What's the matter?" asked The Blue Spirit. "Am I not whom you were expecting?" he walked forward with his broad swords drawn. Then he stopped, just as he was poised to strike the chains from the creature's legs. After so long, he had the air bison chained and imprisoned. Three years of frustration had all culminated in nothing more than his imprisonment in Ba Sing Se, and now to have in his possession the one thing he knew the avatar would come for…that was surely a gift from fate.

_I could let it go, and go ahead with the plan, or I could wait and attempt to capture the avatar. If I could kill the others…no, Jet will be with them. Do I really want to kill him? Of course not. But what if it's the only way…But even if I turn on them now, my only reward for losing my only friends in the world will be a slight chance of redeeming an honor that they themselves say I never really lost._

Zuko's head pounded inside his mask. He had to think fast before the avatar, or worse yet the Dai Li discovered him.

And then the door grated open again. Zuko whipped round, swords ready.

"Uncle?" he asked, and sure enough, there was Uncle Iroh, standing with his arms folded, and a small smile on his face.

"Oh, The Blue Spirit. I wonder who could be behind that mask?"

Zuko bowed his head and removed the mask. "How did you get in here?" he asked.

"The same way we did last time, except without the guards this time. All I needed was one earth bender to open the door, and I was in."

"And now you intend to advise me what to do." Zuko said, frowning. "But I already know what you're going to say. You're going to say I can't betray the only people who have ever treated me well."

"Well, actually I was going to ask you where you intended to keep the bison. In the new apartment?"

"No, if I were to betray them, I'd stay here and wait. They'll be along any moment."

"If it weren't for the avatar, you would have frozen to death at the north pole, and as long as we tailed him, he never attempted to kill you, or hurt you in any way he did not see necessary. If you betray your friends, then there is no guarantee that they or your father will end up forgiving you, but if you help them, then you are certain to gain their favor, and people who treat you fairly as your friends do are worth ten times as much as someone who looks down on you as though you were an expendable part of his arsenal." Uncle's voice almost bordered on shouting now, but he remained calm for the most part. "Please, my nephew, just learn to think these things through before you do them, and life will be so much easier. You didn't think about how to get the avatar back to the ship at the north pole, you just headed off into the tundra with a desperate hope of returning your honor. I cannot make this choice for you, but please remember that the last time you made one like it, you made a mistake."

Zuko looked at the ground, shame and rage shaking his body.

Jet stared into the room he had opened. "Oops, maybe not."

Twelve Dai Li agents looked up from their dice game in surprise.

Shutting the door, Jet moved on to the next one.

"Are you scatterbrained?" asked Katara, popping the cork out of her water bottle.

"You know Jet, she right." said Toph. "There's nothing big or fluffy behind any of these doors, I've just checked." she would have gone on, but at that moment the door Jet had opened and closed opened again and all twelve agents poured out, casting their stone gloves as they came.

The freedom fighters began to go about their work again, gladly taking the shortest route and killing any agent that came into easy range, while team avatar was far more reluctant to kill.

Aang himself never did make a killing blow, always choosing instead to trap his victims in a cocoon of stone, or freeze their feet to the floor.

Soon there were far more than twelve agents in the room, and team avatar and the freedom fighters found themselves fighting for their lives.

"This way!" shouted Toph, and led the way down a tunnel, into darkness.

As they came out the other end of the tunnel, they were confronted by Long Feng.

"Going somewhere?" asked the Dai Li's head.

"You bet!" said Aang, and darted in the direction of another door. Jet followed him, but the others were accosted by at least two dozen Dai Li members, and left to fend for themselves.

Aang would have turned back to help them, but now Long Feng was chasing him and Jet, and they had difficulty staying ahead of him.

At last they came out into another large chamber, where they turned to stand and glare at their pursuer.

"Surrender or die." said Long Feng.

"Well of the two, I'd personally rather you died, but if you wanted to surrender I'd accept it." spat Jet.

"Foolish boy." The Dai Li leader held up his hands and clenched his fists as though he were choking Jet.

The earth kingdom teen's eyes flared open wide, and panic spread across his face as he fell to the ground clutching his stomach.

"Jet!" screamed Aang, and dropped beside the freedom fighter to examine him. "Jet, are you alright?"

The older boy moaned. "Stomach." he said, and then began to convulse as waves of nausea struck him.

Fearing for Jet's life, Aang tried to encourage him. "Jet, get up! You can lick this, you can do anything. You're a freedom fighter!"

As Aang finished, determination mixed with the pain in Jet's face, and, rising to his knees, he hauled back his arm and threw one of his swords at Long Feng with all his strength.

The leader dodged the blade, and leapt to attack Aang, but before he had traveled more than a few inches through the air he snapped back again and flopped to the ground.

"Take that!" shouted Toph, and put her foot on the Dai Li leader's throat. "And stay down!" She raised her arms, and pillars of stone shot up to encage her prisoner's face. Only then did she release his pony tail, by which she had pulled him to the floor.

Then she and the others rushed into the room, all unharmed.

Katara's eyes grew wide, and she knelt by Jet with her water ready to heal him, but was at a loss for where to administer it. At last she looked at Toph and said "This is an earth bender wound, can't you do something?"

Toph hung her head. "I'm afraid I don't know what it is that guy did." she said.

Jet was on the ground again, convulsing in spasms of pain.

In desperation, Katara fished in her clothing till she found the water that Master Pakku had given her from the spirit oasis at the north pole. She was about to administer it when Jet's hand reached out and stopped her.

"Katara, just go. More of them will be here soon." he said, between groans.

"But this is special water Jet. It might be able to heal you."

"Then save it in case you need to heal someone important like the avatar, or one of his teachers. I'm just a kid in the end. Just go."

"But-"

"Go!" Jet fairly shouted, and instantly wished he hadn't as the effort sent another pang of pain through his stomach.

Long Shot put a hand on Katara's shoulder. "Leave this to us." he said. "He's our leader."

Katara looked at him for a second, tears coming out of her eyes in spite of how she had felt about Jet less than an hour before.

"I'll be fine." Jet promised.

Katara nodded, and the group left, as Long Shot knocked an arrow, and Smellerbee pulled a dagger from her belt.

"He's lying." said Toph. The group ran with all speed to the surface.

"You did the right thing, Zuko." said Iroh to his nephew. "I just want you to know, I'm very…hello, what's this?"

They stopped walking, their forms casting tall shadows in the dim light.

In the center of the room they had entered, Smellerbee and Long Shot stood ready to fight, facing a passageway from which a dozen Dai Li members were cautiously proceeding. On the floor, Jet was groaning pitifully.

Iroh's expression turned to one of anger, and he ran toward the agents sending out fiery punches and shouting "Get out of here you heartless maggots!"

Frightened, the Dai Li members retreated, dragging their dazed leader behind them and leaving Uncle free to inspect Jet's wounds.

"It was their leader. He did something to Jet's stomach." said Long Shot, concern evident in his voice. He looked up at Iroh, his eyes saying the rest. _"I don't know if he's going to make it."_

Iroh smiled. "Looks like a bad case of stomach ache to me. I used to run into this all the time during the siege of Ba Sing Se. The Dai Li have discovered ways in which to bend the minds and bodies of their opponents, but not completely. This technique was often used during the siege to set a fire nation soldier's innards roiling in on themselves. It's very painful, but all he needs is some thistle berry tea. We learned to carry a pouch with us at all times during the war, and it saved my life many times. If we can get him back to the shop before he starts bleeding inside, he'll be fine. But we've got to hurry, because if not things will get very rough."

As it turned out, they did not get Jet to the shop within an hour. He was still alive when they reached it, but in so much pain he could barely breath. Try as Zuko might, he could not convince the earth benders to move the train any faster.

When they reached home, Iroh hastily brewed the tea, and gave Jet a sip of it. When the boy quieted down a little, he handed the cup to him.

Once he was sure Jet would be alright, Zuko realized just how sick he himself was feeling, and before he knew what had happened, he found himself on the floor beside his friend.

"What…" he started to ask, but Uncle shushed him. "What you did back there was most unusual. After hunting the avatar for so long, you released his bison. Helping him is something you are completely unused to, and now you are rebelling against yourself, mind and body. Rest now. We will take care of you."

"You know, don't you?" he asked. "You know about the Dai Li."

"I have always known about The Blue Spirit, Zuko. And I knew that you were sneaking out and killing the Dai Li agents. I was not very happy about that, but I knew it was something you had to sort out for yourself. Now sleep, Zuko. A man needs his rest."


End file.
